Cass had thought she had gotten used to luxury, having been rather pampered by Lord Hall and given her own rather impressive quarters. She had heard that, aside from the Imperial Quarters, the Imperial Center in Tyine was more functional than not. Built for defense first and comfort second, and many nobles rather disliked to stay there as a result- but Cass did not really understand what they meant until she visited a noble’s private residence.

They had arrived at Rence Manor and a servant had met them at the door and guided them into the entrance hall- and the sheer opulence bordered on garish. Every inch of the room was nearly over designed and shined with polish from the marble floors to the crystal chandelier hanging above, it could almost be described as blinding… Cass was disabused of her belief that she knew what luxury was, but at the same time she wondered if the vast amount of gold that went into this single room was even remotely worth it if it came so close to the border of being tacky, but did not quite make that. It was not tasteful, and stopped just short of being tacky, so it was unpleasant- but not enough had been spent for it to be remarkably so.

The slightly overweight man descending the staircase to greet them was, on the other hand, most definitely over that line.

Just observing the man had Cass wondering all kinds of strange things. Her first thought upon seeing him was to wonder if he had gained weight for the sole purpose of having more surface area on which to decorate himself. The layers of clothes and jewels adorning the man could probably feed the village below the manor for a decade and in addition to not even looking good on him, made him sweat enough to ruin his makeup- culminating in a person that Cass could only describe as thoroughly disgusting.

A servant announced him as Baron Rence as he had entered the room- a rather pompous move that was obviously planned- but Cass ignored all of that and dipped a deep curtsy to the baron.

“Oh ho!” The baron laughed, “I had been informed that a young woman would be visiting as Hall’s Hand, but to think he would send three such flowers to visit me!”

“On behalf of my Lord, I greet you Baron Rence.” Cass did another, shallower curtsy as a gesture of respect. Not one she particularly meant, but that was immaterial. “I am Cass, Lord Hall’s Hand and it is a pleasure to visit such a prosperous territory and your stunning residence.”

On the streets, people were very direct. When talking, you told the truth if it was good for you, and lied if it was not. Either way, you kept your words as succinct as possible. For nobles, on the other hand, it was the precise opposite. Everything was supposed to be flowery and attention grabbing, and every turn of phrase could contain many meanings. If there was ‘truth’ anywhere in a noble’s words, it would be buried under layers of hyperbole and embellished to the point where even a ‘true’ statement could be considered a lie.

“The pleasure is mine,” Baron Rence approached, took Cass’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Were it not for that collar, by sight alone I would have taken you for myself! As it is, I will have to have you take an offer back to Lord Hall.”

“Unfortunately, I do not think it is likely that my Master would let go of me,” Cass smiled and spoke pleasantly while resisting the urge to wipe her hand. The back of her hand felt disgusting from having the man’s mouth on it, and her palm had been drenched in the sweat of Rence’s hand. “However, I will happily take any message you give me to him.”

On the bright side, Cass could tell from the man’s eyes he had no real interest in her. He merely was complimenting her to be polite, which led Cass to idly wonder what she would have said a couple of years back if someone told her that offering to purchase her would be a compliment to her in the future. Well, if she was told that she would be able to eat her fill of delicious food, she would probably have said she did not mind.

With the formal greeting out of the way, the Baron had servants show them to their quarters to refresh themselves after their journey. Cass’s first true meeting with the Baron would be a little later in the day, and she was a little nervous about it. She was not very nervous, mostly because she felt that this negotiation would be a fairly simple one.

While she had made preparations regardless, Cass honestly thought that a single demonstration would be enough to have the Baron agree. A few of the Baron’s soldiers likely had glyphs already, the old style ones that required a mage to charge them before battle. The only real addition was the mana absorbing glyph, and their tattoos would have to have some careful touch-ups, but otherwise the only difference is that they would no longer need to have them charged. Surely the pressure applied by Lady Clare’s family was not enough to offset the value Cass was dangling in front of the Baron’s nose.

As an aside, Cass’s rooms were decorated in the same way as the rest of the mansion. Even the canopy bed had gilded posts and carvings, to think he would have gold leaf even in a place like a guest room. Cass actually had difficulty imagining the kind of wealth she was seeing, and also had difficulty accepting that all that money had not resulted in something actually desirable to look at.

Natalie, Svala, and Owin were all settling in as well- though Owin was less than impressed by the manor.

“Look at this place,” he snorted. “They may be decent mages and good at business, but they have no taste whatsoever.”

“That is a little harsher than what I thought,” Cass replied, though she mostly agreed with Owin. “But I was just thinking that it is a bit stunning to realize that all this wealth was spent to such an underwhelming effect.”

Owin simply shook his head with a scowl, “you only say that because you do not have the experience to really judge what you are seeing. Dipping trash in gold is enough to fool some people, but that does not make it anything but shinier trash. If you ever see your beloved Master’s manor you will understand the difference. His mother might be a pathetic whore, but I cannot deny that she has a good eye.”

Cass frowned at Owin’s words, but did not refute him. Lord Hall did not often talk about his family, but Cass knew that he had a terribly poor relationship with his father at the very least. From some of the things Cass had been told or had inferred, she had a fairly low opinion of Sarius Hall’s mother to begin with. At the very best, she had not helped her son- and that was at the very best. However, while she did not refute what he said, she did rebuke him for saying it.

“Watch your language Owin,” Cass spoke slightly sharply. “That is our Master’s mother you are talking about, and even if she was not our Master’s parent, she would still be the wife of a viscount and outrank both of us. For that matter, she would be above us even if we were not slaves.

And for that matter, you should be careful saying such things around me. I will let it go for now, because I honestly can not say for certain that what you said was wrong, but disrespecting Master’s mother is not something I will tolerate regardless. Next time you say something like that, I will beat you into the ground.”

He laughed in response, “For now, you might just be able to do that. But as I said before, I will be making you scream one day.”

Cass raised a single eyebrow and went for the jugular, metaphorically this time. “How could you possibly do that when you do not even know who you are? Are you the street thug Rat? Or are you the young noble Owin? Because when I first came in here, I was speaking to Owin- but that last part was nothing more than a rat. Face it, your noble upbringing will always make you too soft to be anything above a middling level thug, and your experience on the street will never let you be refined enough to reclaim your noble heritage. If you think such a half-assed person could ever take me on, go ahead and try. If you are lucky, I might even leave enough to bury.”

But Owin just laughed again, shaking his head with mirth causing Cass to scowl at him. She considered making good on her threat just for his attitude, but restrained herself.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Owin took a deep breath as he got his laughter under control, “I it is just hilarious that you, of all people, would say that kind of thing. Who the hell do you think you are?”

Cass was about to respond, but Owin cut her off. “I ask that because if I am a half-assed noble and a half-assed thug, what are you? Who are you? You were a worthless dreg whose only value was her body, either as something for me to use or as experimental material. Then, you were a valuable point of study after the experiment on you gave unexpected results- but both of us know that did not last long, because you ended up in a position of power as Hall’s Hand!

Face it Cass, you are in the same position I am. No, worse! Are you Cass the starving dreg? Or perhaps, Cass the assistant in experiments and the material in those same experiments? If you are either of those, how does that work with Cass the Hand and her near noble status despite her slave collar? Who is Cass, really?”

Owin’s words unsettled Cass more than she thought he was capable of. Despite his cruel intentions, his words reminded her of Maurice and Lord Hall. The thought that Owin had the same capacity as those two to allow him to see through her and strike at the core of who Cass was…

Seeing Cass’s expression, Owin clarified his statement. “Do not get me wrong, Cass- I have no intention of trying to change or manipulate you. Find your identity yourself, find your own way to accept your life and where you are in it. Outside of my duties as your ‘attendant,’ the only thing I will have to do with you is shove you down beneath me.

However, here is a hint- maybe you should consider why you have let me live this long, and why you treat me so well. Sure, Hall has some use for me, and you would be punished, but you like that to an extent, do you not? He certainly would not get rid of you, or even change how he feels about you. At the same time, you should also consider that you were broken and put back together- but what shape were you rebuilt into and did every part of you get put back by Hall? Even if they all were, and I have seen enough to know that Hall missed a few that were picked up by others, are you certain that you can hide the weaknesses it left you with? If you do not at least figure that last part out, you really will end up in bed with me.”

Owin then proceeded to throw Cass out of his room, and she was too much in a daze to really stop him. Her mind was reeling, and the fact that this ‘advice’ came from such an unexpected quarter- from Owin ‘Rat’ Rattan- made it all the more daunting. She had intended to visit Svala as well, and then the soldiers, but she found herself back in her room, sitting on her couch.

She told herself she would make herself stand and do those things, but it was difficult to muster the strength when she considered Owin’s last words. Cass had been, at first when the glyphs were applied, telling herself that Owin, despite his obvious evil, deserved a chance to have a better life. And later, learning of who he was, eventually decided that he was a valuable person and in light of his increasingly nicer treatment of Svala, Cass continued to restrain herself.

But even if Cass’s identity was in flux, and complicated by her breaking, rebuilding, and subsequent actions and learning in Beergmutar and Tyine- Owin’s behaviors were antithetical to Cass’s dreams that she had held on to, with the help of Maurice, throughout much of these challenges.

Yet not only did she not strike at Owin, Cass realized she respected the man. There was only one reason that Cass could think of for that- Cass had never really let herself think of being equal to or above him. Even when she had threatened him with magic and fire one day that felt like a lifetime ago, and even thought of him as weak compared to Hall, she respected his ability to restrain his fear and talk to her normally after he was released. Especially in light of what happened in Beergmutar, Cass could see the weakness Owin spoke of laid out before her.

Cass’s weakness was submission, and that the weakness was not limited to her Master Hall. Hall had the greatest claim to her, so long as he was above her she would submit to no one else. But if Cass thought of the start of her ‘breaking’ to be when she was tossed in that cell, there were others that Cass had acknowledged as above her. Maurice, Evans, and… Rat…

Even as she surpassed Maurice and Rat, now Owin, she did not think of them as beneath her permanently. She believed in their capacity, that those two could be better, and she was still certain that her belief was right. But this introspection revealed to her that Cass had not reached that conclusion due to her analysis of their potential- but out of a belief that they were superior to her, and thus must be able to reach a higher point than her.

And worse, Cass realized that if Owin did become better than her, and if her Master was gone, she would submit to him. She would hate him, she would hate herself for submitting to him, and she would likely start to hate the world itself for her being forced to serve under him. But the force that would hold her beneath him was her own self.

Cass was fine with serving her Master, Lord Hall, forever. He had broken her and given her more than she could have ever dreamed of, and she loved him for both of those things. But she would not serve others, she was for him alone and she hoped that he would one day be hers alone.

She would not be submissive to anyone else but Sarius Hall, she would never look at someone above her and think that person should be above her forever. And when she thought about it, Cass realized that this was necessary for her dream. Cass needed ambition. She needed ambition to grab power, and power to fulfill her dreams and protect her from submission. She would not rise to the top, no- Cass would work to put her Master at the top, and let herself be a step below him. He was the only person she would allow to stand above her.

Though she was still shaken, this was enough for Cass to stand up and go find Svala and Natalie, who had been assigned a room together. Not that either would be staying in the room, but it was a fine enough place for them both to put their things for now. During the journey here, Svala and Natalie had gained some familiarity with each other and, while not quite friends, might one day be.

If anything, if was not for Nat being rather timid and shy, they would likely be friends already. Natalie’s cuteness, combined with her determination and work ethic, was too potent to resist. Svala was certainly different around Nat than she had been when she had met Cass, but it was hard to be ‘cute’ on the street and you really did not want to stand out that way.

The two had already finished unpacking- even with the rise in status, relative to when Cass met them in Owin’s case, no one really had much in the way of stuff. Cass had a decent wardrobe as part of her duties as a Hand, but the others had far less luggage. As a result, Cass found the two of them chatting happily with each other.

“I don’t know much about the spirits really,” Nat was saying. “That kind of thing was for the Priests mostly- though I think that the Warriors and Voni knew stuff about it too.”

“I did not even know there were other beliefs,” Svala said with a frown, and then noticed Cass and greeted her with a smile. They apparantly had been too engrossed in conversation to notice when Cass entered the room, it seemed that Natalie was talking about the spirit worship Cass had seen in Beergmutar.

“If you are interested, I could introduce you to Odal and Rowig.” Cass suggested, “they were part of the Warrior Caste and might be able to tell you more.”

Cass was unsure why Svala was so interested, but it did remind her that she needed to give Natalie an education on the Church. With Natalie’s personality, Cass was confident that she would be able to reach whatever dream she set her mind to- and Cass would happily help her with it. When Cass had brought it up a few times, Nat seemed a little reluctant, but she was sure she would come around.

“Oh, thank you Lady.” Svala smiled a bit wider, “from what Natalie was saying, it sounds very interesting. I wish I could meet one of the Priests…”

“Hmmm,” Cass had really nothing to say to respond that, so she changed the subject. “How are your rooms?”

“Unbelievable, Lady Cass!” Natalie exclaimed, “they are even more amazing than your rooms in Beergmutar!”

“Haha,” Cass laughed. “That is true. Makes you wonder what the Baron’s quarters are like, doesn’t it?”

“I can not even imagine…” Svala laughed with Cass, “sometimes I think this is all a dream and I will wake up in a corner of an alley with a bottle of red next to me!”

“Well, I am glad that the rooms are good and that you two are getting along well,” Cass said. “Though I am a bit curious why you guys got rooms like this, I am not about to complain.”

“I was wondering that too,” Nat said curiously. “The three of us are assigned as your servants, right? It seems a bit odd that we would be treated this nicely.”

“They are not quite as nice as you think,” Cass chuckled. “Expensive, sure, but even I know they could have spent less for better effect. Nevertheless, you are right, it is odd. My guess is that they are assuming that treating you well will help them get a better deal from me.”

As she thought about it, Cass decided that made the most sense and also no sense whatsoever. Cass had some leeway to make deals, but considering the reason she was here- to convince Baron Rence to use glyphs- it was likely a little unneeded. There was really no downside to the glyphs, after all. Why wouldn’t you use them?

After that, the subject changed and they made light small talk for a few minutes before excusing herself. She still had to visit Sir Rammuson and the soldiers, who were lodging down in the barracks, which was separate from the manor. Cass called one of the servants to lead her there and was able to get a glimpse of some of the manor’s grounds on the way.

Cass was curious about the animal shaped trees, which the servant named as ‘topiaries,’ and made a note to take Natalie to see them when she had the chance. The grounds were very well kept, with large gardens with statues and fountains tastefully placed throughout. Whoever had made the decisions regarding the exterior of the manor was far superior to the one who had made the decisions about the decorations of the interior.

The path the servant took her on led away from the gardens and through a well maintained hedge via a gate into a small stand of trees. It was explained to Cass that both the hedge and trees were placed to hide the less decorative and more functional facilities from sight of the manor. Past the trees was a rather large barracks as well as a few other buildings, mostly storage it seemed.

Cass thanked the servant and went on ahead. As she got closer, she frowned slightly. On closer inspection, the building seemed to be somewhat in disrepair- even parts of the roof seemed to be sagging! True, Cass was used to seeing dirty and crumbling structures in the poor parts of Tyine, but compared to the extravagance of the manor she had just been inside, it was surprising.

Inside was an open hall filled with cots and thin blankets. Even without taking a closer look, Cass could tell that blankets were neither clean, nor of any decent quality. Her own soldiers seemed to be removing the cots and setting up their camping bedrolls, likely a good choice, Cass thought.

Other than the soldiers Cass had brought with her from Tyine, there were only five other people inside. Looking at them, she could not really tell if the quality of the soldiers Baron Rence had was pathetically bad or if the five people were squatters who had been living in the building without his knowledge.

Well, that was hyperbole on her part, Cass thought to herself. But she felt that she was starting to get a grasp on how the Baron could be so uninterested in glyphs.

Still, the Baron had guards at his manor that were of greater quality than this and it would not be odd for him to have a knight as well, and they would clearly not be housed here. After greeting Sir Rammuson, Cass asked for his opinion, betting that an experienced knight would likely have decent insight in to the matter.

“You probably never thought about this much, Lady Cass,” the expression on Rammuson’s face was quite serious as he spoke. “But while the lower classes use the terms ‘guard’ and ‘soldier’ interchangeably, they are different professions in reality. For that matter, there are differences between guards depending on the areas they are guarding- a market guard and a palace guard are very different people and do very different jobs.

The Baron has a lot of personal guards at his manor it seems, but has almost no soldiers. It would be beyond rude for me to make an accusation, but I do wonder if the Baron contributes much to the war in the south or if he has made appeals to the nobles above him that he lacks the forces to do so…”

But if Baron Rence was doing something like that he would not want Cass to see such a thing, but he was not hiding it at all. She was not worried about him trying to assassinate the group, partly because she doubted he could, but mostly because that would force Lord Hall to seriously investigate what occured. Even if they got away with killing her and everyone else, the investigation would reveal the Baron’s trickery with his fighting force.

In short, Cass had no clue what Baron Rence’s game was, but he certainly was playing one.

“Have our soldiers mix with the Baron’s and see what you can find out,” Cass ordered Ramusson. “And send a few people down to the village to ‘relax,’ okay? There might be nothing going on, but I would rather know for certain than be surprised later.”

On her way back, a servant intercepted her and said that the Baron had asked to meet with Cass in his study. It was far earlier than Cass had expected, normally noble’s business would take place after a meal. It was not considered to polite to rush business, much to Cass’s annoyance. So while she was pleasantly surprised to meet with the Baron earlier, she had to wonder what caused him to call for the meeting early.

It took some time for the servant to show Cass to the study- which simply illustrated the gigantic size of the manor. In contrast to everything Cass had seen so far, however, the study was cozy and tasteful. Bookshelves lined the walls and there was very little decoration aside from the exquisite designs on the carpet.

The Baron was sitting behind his desk, his face serious as he read a report. Cass gave a light bow, “I did not think we would be meeting until a little later, Baron. I hope there is nothing wrong?”

“Ah, Lady Cass, please come in and take a seat.” The Baron gestured towards the comfy chair in front of his desk. “I am not quite certain whether or not I am fortunate or unfortunate today. There is, in fact, something quite wrong, but if your ‘glyphs’ are as effective as your Lord says, then I am fortunate that you have arrived.”

“Aside from lacking the requirement for a mage to charge them, they are not any different from the glyphs you are used to Baron.” Cass wanted to be careful not to oversell the glyphs, but that single point is incredibly valuable by itself regardless. She was also quite curious what the Baron was talking about. “However, it would be my pleasure to demonstrate their ability and without needing to charge them, you can witness the fighting power of a glyph-bearing unit with mage support. It is nigh invincible compared to the current troop paradigm.”

A servant entered to serve tea, pouring a fresh cup for the Baron and Cass. Cass took a sip, it was not bad, but not excellent either. The tea set was far higher quality than the tea within it- which was only to be expected given what Cass had seen in the manor.

“I certainly hope so,” Baron Rence sighed. “The report I just received suggests that the manticores living in the northeaster caves have left them and are wandering around the territory.”

The Baron’s words did not sink in at first, and then Cass sprung up coughing up her tea and dropping the teacup. The wonderfully plush carpet cushioned the teacup so that it did not shatter, but it would likely take the servants quite a bit of work to remove the stains the tea would leave. However, Cass could not care less about that.

“You had Magical Beasts living in your territory and you let them be!? Are you mad!?” Cass asked in stunned disbelief. Despite never seeing one of them herself, records of the Magical Beast hunts that drove them extinct within the Empire were included in her studies. She had not paid much attention to them, but she could easily recall accounts of their danger and the incredible amount of casualties that were caused.

In modern times, Magical Beasts were almost mythical in the Empire. Occasionally, they were apparently encountered on the northern and southern borders, and then hunted down immediately. The idea that manticores would be living in the Rence Barony was ludicrous, almost incomprehensible.

“Watch your tone!” The Baron spoke sharply, “you may be Lord Hall’s Hand, but you are still a slave, you will speak to me with respect. And if you have no right to criticise my decisions, I have far too few soldiers to handle creatures like that.”

Cass forcefully restrained her disbelief and anger and managed to sit back down. She could not deny that the Baron did not have the soldiers from what she had seen, but she would also bet that it was his own fault. She also was willing to bet that he had known about these monsters for a while now and had decided not to either build up his forces or alert the Empire itself.

“Regardless,” Baron Rence continued. “We both have something to gain from this. You need to show off the power of the glyphs, and I need the beasts gone- we both win.”

“Baron Rence,” Cass had managed to calm herself down enough to think again and was not about to agree to help so easily. “While I apologise for my previous words, I hope you can excuse them in light of how surprising your own words are. However, you surely would not expect me to accept such a dangerous proposal just to show off.”

“And why not? Is that not why you are here?” The Baron said, making Cass wonder just how much of an idiot the man thought she was.

“With respect, I could reliably exhibit the power of the glyphs simply by showing the soldiers I brought lifting weights. In fact, we both are mages and so even that much should be unnecessary.” Cass did not give an inch on this point, “As Lord Hall’s Hand, I need something far more concrete.”

The man snorted, “I can imagine what you want. Fine, I will agree to use the glyphs on my soldiers if you can get rid of the manticores for me.”

It was exactly what Cass wanted, but the speed and ease at which she had gotten that commitment had her feeling a bit suspicious. She had been in the Barony for less than a day, and the mix of things that were out of place were already making her wary. Combined with the sudden appearance of the the legendarily dangerous Magical Beasts, and the odd encounter with bandit-mercenaries earlier in the trip- Cass felt like she was dealing with webs thicker than Beergmutar’s Strioi could create.

Still, despite her unpleasant suspicions, Cass could not find a reason to refuse. So instead she asked for information about manticores, the only information she had about them was based on minor references in her books. Baron Rence provided her with a large chunk of information, none of which she thought was incredibly useful. Still, as she jogged through the woods and through the long plain grasses, Cass had been able to distill some nuggets of information from the dross.

Manticores were, in the past, one of the more common Magical Beasts in the southern reaches of Haj. As the extermination of the dangerous creatures began, they began to migrate north as the predators that used to keep them pinned in the south were killed. The purge eventually expanded to include the manticores as well, but they had, at one point, ranged throughout the entire Empire.

All manticores had the body of a lion and a human head, but depending on their age they had different tails- which were the truly dangerous part of the beast. Young manticores had the tails of scorpions and could strike with blinding speed, made all the worse because of the deadly venom contained within. However, as manticores matured, the stiff bristles that covered those tails would grow into full fledged poisonous spines- which the adult manticore could launch over surprising distances. Just what that distance was, however, was not something Rence or Cass knew.

For that matter, Cass’s rushed education and lack of experience were evident when she tried to imagine what the creature looked like. She had never seen a lion, or even a depiction of one, but it was supposed to be a very large cat she thought. Just how ‘large’ it actually was, she had no idea.

According to what records the Baron had on hand, aside from the tails she should be wary of the monsters head. It had a human head, but none of the intelligence that implied. Hearing roars and shrieks emitting from a human mouth was noted to be especially disconcerting, and again, while it would not be normally something you would think of looking at a human face, it was known to savagely bite in close range.

For that matter, the head’s size was misleading. Manticores could unhinge their bottom jaws and retract their lips to take bites far larger than what you would think at first look- and doing so would reveal its three rows of teeth. As an aside, it was noted for eating its prey whole- bones and equipment included.

How the hell could such dangerous creatures just be allowed to live near human settlements? Cass did not have time to think about it now, but she would certainly be adding it to the list of things she had to investigate. The more they had talked, the less Cass had believed the Baron’s words about simply leaving them be.

Still, this also gave Cass exactly what she needed and showed off the incredible utility of her glyphed soldiers. Having just arrived at the Baron’s manor that morning, they were able to deploy and move at incredible speeds. A fully equipped infantry jogging while maintaining enough stamina to have a fight? Why would you not want to use this with your own troops?

Their guide was not nearly in as good of shape as Cass and her team. Despite only wearing regular clothes they were breathing heavily and looked close to collapse about halfway to their destination. Initially, Cass thought it would be best to ride, but the Baron did not have enough mounts for everyone and the guide was just a local peasant who could not ride regardless.

It was late afternoon before they reached the hamlet that had reported the sighting. According to the guide, a few families of hunters and fur trappers lived here and traded with a nearby village often. But the buildings were empty now, the doors busted in and arrows stuck in random places around the huts. And embedded in the empty door frame of one hut were three spines, each one over a foot and a half in length and still glistening with a sickly sheen.

“Well, I cannot say that I expected to make it here before something like this occured,” Cass sighed and turned to the pale hunter who had come with them. “Can you track the beasts that were here?”

“What!?” The hunter was trembling and seemed to shout reflexively, “there is no way I am going to get near those things! Why can’t you track them?”

“We are all from the city, you know.” Cass sighed again, hoping that this man would not be much of a headache. “Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated, and greatly remunerated.”

The flash of a few gold coins that Cass happened to have on her was definitely tempting to the man, who licked his lips as he saw them in her hand. His greed was warring against his fear, so Cass gave him another little push.

“On the other hand, I really do not want to have to punish you for your disobedience.” Cass had gold in one hand, and now she created fire in the other. “You do not really have a choice, so you might as well just make a profit, right?”

The man heaved a sigh of his own and took Cass’s coins and began to examine the scene.